Total Solar Eclipse
Observations

One of the most spectacular
events to witness is a total eclipse of the Sun. I have been very
fortunate to have witnessed two Total Solar Eclipses, this is
the brief intro and links to the actual events.

My first real chance
for a Total Solar Eclipse was to be August 11th 1999. Having decided
Cornwall had a good chance to be clouded out, and due to the utter
greed of the local population several months prior to the event
I opted for Romania, a place I had never been before.

Now what to take on
my first Total Eclipse to the event to try and get some images
of the event?

You would think 2 mins
and 22 secs is a long time, but according to all who have been
before - the time just disappears. Trusting my fellow and more
experienced amateurs, I put together a selection of equipment
which I thought might do the job. A 600mm mirror lens for taking
35mm images, and a small video system for trying to get some movie
images as well. The idea was to capture these images on a video
walkman whilst spending most of the time watching the event unfold,
and download selected stills to a PC afterwards. The assembled
equipment being tested is shown below.

....

The images show the
JVC TK1070 video camera with a Tokina 150 -500mm lens, and a 600mm
Sigma mirror lens mounted on either side of a Vixen GP mount with
RA drive. Power was to be supplied by a car battery bought on
arrival.